Stomping Through the Savoy Cocktail Book

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Tinton Cocktail

Tinton Cocktail
1/3 Port Wine. (sink 3/4 oz Warre’s Warrior Porto)
2/3 Applejack or Calvados. (1 1/2 oz MONTREUIL RESERVE CALVADOS)
(dash Angostura Orange Bitters)Shake (Stir, please) well (the Calvados and orange bitters) and strain into cocktail glass. (Over the back of a spoon, pour the Port Wine down the side of the glass as a “sink”.

When I first made the Princeton Cocktail, I didn’t realize that properly made, the Port Wine should be added as a “sink”. Attempting to rectify that situation, I have applied that methodology to the Tinton. I think it looks, and tastes, kind of cool.

A few years ago, when I was first getting to know my mother-in-law, I discovered her displeasure at having her Old-Fashioned glasses cleared before she felt she was finished with them. She enjoyed lingering over the dregs of the cocktail, the diluted bitters and whiskey, which collected in the bottom of her glass. Woe betide the waiter, who cleared that glass without asking.

When thinking about that, I started thinking about the tautology of the life of a cocktail. You want it to be enjoyable to the drinker for the whole time they have it, not everyone is “one and done” with their drink.

Which also got me to thinking about cocktails which evolve while you drink them.

The Old-Fashioned is a good example. Usually, when it is put in front of you, the ice has only begun to melt. It should sting a little. As you savor, the ice melts further, chilling and diluting the drink. By the end, you are left with mostly water, which on a hot, humid day in Wisconsin, isn’t a bad thing.

In a similar way, ‘Ti Punch is another drink which can be a bit of a bear the first few sips, the heat and fire of the Rhum Agricole needs time to be tamed by the melt from the cubes and to blend with the cane syrup and lime peel.

In a more obvious way, the Princeton changes as you drink it. The first few sips will be almost entirely cold Gin. Then as you tilt it back, you find it being more mixed with the Port. The last few sips will mostly be Port.

This works just as well, orignal recipe intention or not, with the Tinton. And I do think the Orange Bitters were a nice addition.

Admittedly, most cocktail drinkers, we hope, down their cocktails quickly, while they are still cold.

But some drinks are meant to be lingered over, to enjoy the puzzle provided by the evolution of the spirits, ice, and flavor as they mingle over time.

This post is one in a series documenting my ongoing effort to make all of the cocktails in the Savoy Cocktail Book, starting at the first, Abbey, and ending at the last, Zed.